understanding transactions

[phatsphere]

Hi, I'm new to the world of bitcoins and looked into the block explorer. In particlular, I tried to understand what those transactions could mean and hence understand how all this actually works.

e.g. when I start here:

http://blockexplorer.com/address/12Z69Vb17WYrhxo1hGLHq2HEtNxwt7SVri

and follow the from/to link of the first transaction, i end up at a somewhat similar one. i can continue clicking on the first link almost forever ... just the amount slightly increases. could someone enlighten me what that means? is that normal? 

p

[Dude65535]

The first link on that page goes to the address the funds came from. The reason for that pattern is when you spend bitcoins you send an entire group of coins you received in the past split between the person you sent them to and a new address belonging to you.

Specifically what you are seeing is probably some one sending out small portions of a large group of coins. The reason the balance goes up after each link is because you are going back in time.

I would guess the source of the transactions is a mining pool operator making payments to pool users.

[phatsphere]

ahh! thank you. makes sense. i guess i have to read the original paper more carefully to understand transactions in more detail 

p

[cypherdoc]

ur not looking at a Tranaction page per se.  ur looking a an Address page listing a ledger of the transactions this address has engaged in in the past.